Sewing machine



R. J. BOSER SEWING MACHINE May 6, 1969 Sheet Filed July 28, 1967 FIG. I;

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INVENTOR ROMA/.0 J. Boar/Q,

ATTORNEYS May 6, 1969 SEWING MACHINE Filed July 28, 1967 Sheet 2 Ora,

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124 TM e INVENTOR RONALD J. 5055i F106 mpm ATTORNEYS J. BOSER SEWING MACHINE Sheet Filed July 28, 1967 FIG. 7.

9 m El O 0 E TB N m. rm w n A m United States Patent 3,442,236 SEWING MACHINE Ronald J. Boser, 21 Bolan Drive, Huntington Station, NY. 11746 Filed July 28, 1967, Ser. No. 656,868 Int. Cl. Db 27/20 US. Cl. 112-213 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A needle-feed sewing machine having slide members operatively arranged in engagement on opposite sides of the work and simultaneously movable through reciprocating transverse movements during intervals between usual feed movements of the work, whereby the work has a resultant angular movement during stitching which provides a zigzag sewing pattern.

The present invention relates generally to an improved needle-feed sewing machine, the improvements, more particularly, enabling not only conventional sewing operation but also sewing in a zigzag pattern.

An important contribution of the present invention is the appreciation that in the normal operation of a needlefeed sewing machine there is an interval when neither actual sewing nor feeding of the work is occurring, and that this interval affords an opportunity to produce zigzag sewing. That is, as generally understood, in the operation of a needle-feed sewing machine the needle and feed dogs move from starting positions into engagement with a material being sewn, advance the engaged material through a feed movement and then disengage from the material to return to their respective starting positions. In accordance with the present invention, the interval generally commencing at disengagement of the needle and feed dogs up until these parts have returned to their respective starting positions is advantageously used for the operation of auxiliary mechanisms to laterally displace the work and thereby achieve zigzag sewing. A typical prior art needle-feed sewing machine having the mode of operation as just described, including reciprocating fore and aft feed movement of the needle, cannot produce zigzag sewing. A major objective of the present invention is to improve the versatility and performance of needle-feed sewing machines, and specifically to provide an improved model of this type or class of sewing machine capable, with minimum modification, of sewing in a zigzag pattern.

A modified needle-feed sewing machine demonstrating objects and advantages of the present invention includes first and second slide members operatively arranged to engage the work on opposite sides, actuating means powered by the prime mover of the sewing machine operatively connected to reciprocate the slide members through transverse movements, and a cam control which is effective to produce the transverse movements during intervals between feed movements, whereby the work is moved, between stitches, along a resultant angular path characteristic of zigzag sewing.

The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully appreciated by reference to the following detailed description of a presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiment in accordance with the present invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partial front elevational view, in section and with parts broken away, illustrating an improved needle-feed sewing machine demonstrating objects and features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view, in section taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1, illustrating structural features of the work or material-moving means of the sewing machine which results in zigzag sewing thereof;

FIG. 3 is a partial front elevational view, on an enlarged scale and in section taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2, illustrating further structural features of the materialmoving means;

FIG. 4 is a partial enlarged side elevational view, in section taken on line 44 of FIG. 3,. illustrating still further structural features of the material-moving means;

FIG. 5 is a detailed plan view of a portion of the material-moving means mounted on the presser foot of the sewing rrnachine;

FIG. 6 is a partial plan view, on an enlarged scale and with portions of the structure removed, illustrating structural details of the modified bed slide of the sewing machine;

FIG. 7 is a partial plan view, as seen from beneath the sewing machine, of the cam control for the material-movmg means;

FIG. 8 is a chart illustrating the positions of the sewing machine needle, feed dogs and slide members during sewing operation of the sewing machine and keyed to the positions of revolution of the cam of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic view of typical zigzag sewing produced by the modified needle-feed sewing machine hereof.

Reference is now made to the drawings wherein there is shown a sewing machine, generally designated 10, which will be understood to be of the needle-feed type. As generally understood, this type sewing machine has a needle 12, feed dogs 14 and conventional mechanisms operatively connected to the needle and feed dogs such that during typical sewing operation the needle and feed dogs 12, 14 are actuated through feed movements in the direction of sewing F or away from the seamstress. Feed movement F occurs intermittently during the sewing operation, commencing after the needle 12 has penetrated through the material or work W being sewn and the feed dogs 14 raised into engagement against the underside thereof. In a well understood manner, this insures positive feed of the work W along the feed path P rearwardly of the seamstress.

Although a conventional needle-feed sewing machine is capable of producing only conventional stitching, the sewing machine 10 hereof has additional mechanisms attached to it which enables the production of zigzag sewing applied first along one angular direction and then along a reverse angular direction, thereby prdoucing zigzag sewing Z. Although zigzag sewing Z is not new per se, it cannot usually be produced except on a sewing machine having mechanisms for laterally displacing the sewing needle and the feed dogs and, to applicants best knowledge, is a stitching pattern which is entirely new for a needle-feed sewing machine as exemplified by the machine 10.

The machine 10 includes the usual head 16 overhanging a work table 18 at one end and housing in this end the usual mechanisms effective to reciprocate a needle bar 12a and needle 12 through stitch-forming movements. For brevitys sake, only a portion of the conventional upper main shaft 20 powering the said usual mechanisms is shown, this shaft having a gear 22 in meshing engagement with an idler gear 24, in turn, in meshing engagement with a driven gear 26 fixedly mounted on a lower main shaft 28. Shaft 28 is mounted at its opposite ends in bearings 30 and 32 and in between has appropriate mechanisms for distributing its rotational movement to actuate the feed dogs 14 through its work-feed movement F and also to actuate material-moving means, generally designated 34, alternately through movement TM transverse to the feed movement F so that a resultant displacement of the work W relative to the needle 12 produces the zigzag sewing Z. Since the construction and functioning of the material-moving means 34 is the essence of the present invention, the description which follows is appropriately restricted thereto.

More particularly, as is best shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 7, fixedly mounted on the right side of the lower main shaft 28, within a housing formed by a lower extension 16a of the pedestal portion of the head 16, is a worm gear 36 in meshing engagement with a gear 38 formed integral with a cam 40 appropriately journalled for rotation on a shaft 42. As best illustrated in FIG. 7 which shows the lower cam face, cam 40 includes a cam groove 44 having two significant features. First, the cam groove 44 is delineated into a series of movement-actuating length segments, exemplified by the segments b and d, and also into dwell length segments, alternately spaced with the segments b, d, exemplified by the segments a, c and e. The significance of these cam segments will soon be apparent. Second, the cam groove 44 is displaced with respect to the axis of rotation of its supporting shaft 42, the maximum displacement being designated C. As a consequence the cam 40 effectively functions as a crank with a maximum throw theoretically equal to the displacement C. The significance of this feature will also soon be apparent.

Operating in the cam groove 44 is a cam follower 46 having a usual roller 46a at one end and, at its other end, fixedly connected to a depending shaft 48 appropriately rotatably mounted in a bearing 50. Fixedly mounted in an appropriate manner on the upper accessible end of the shaft 48 is a crank arm 52 including a longitudinal slot 52a in which rods 54 and 56 are threadably adjustable, as at 58, so that adjustment can be made in the extent of the throw transmitted by the crank arm 52 to the rods 54, 56. The rods 54, 56, in turn, are respectively connected to alternately reciprocate through transverse movement TM first and second, or more particularly upper and lower slide members 60 and 62, which engage the work W on opposite sides. As best shown in FIGS. 3-5 to which attention is now particularly directed, the first or upper slide member 60 is appropriately connected, as at 64, to rod 54 and is supported on the machine presser foot 66, in turn, supported on the presser foot bar 66a. That is, the presser foot 66, which will be understood to be of conventional construction except as noted, includes, as best illustrated in FIG. 5, laterally extending guides 66b and 660. Member 60 is formed generally as a rectangular plate, the body 60a of which, as best seen in FIG. 3, is machined with a transverse slot 60b accommodating the presser foot laterally extending guides 66b and 660. A cylindrical guide or pin member 68 appropriately supported on the presser foot 66 in a transverse orientation cooperates with the guides 66b, 66c to sandwich the upper portionof the member 60 bounding the slot 60b and thereby accurately guide member 60 in movement transversely of the presser foot 66.

Member 60, as clearly shown in FIG. 5, also has an opening 60c therein which is oversized with respect to the body of the presser foot 66 and thus provides a sufficient clearance space CS to allow for transverse movement TM of the member 60 relative to the presser foot 66. An extension of openings 60c, of considerably reduced size, is also provided in the lower wall bounding the slot 60b. The size of this lower opening 60e is approximately the length of the elongated needle opening 66a in the forward end of the presser foot 66 and the length traversed during a transverse stroke TM.

Cooperating with the transversely movable upper slide member 60 is the second or lower slide member 62 which engages the remote or bottom surface of the work W. Member 62, like member 60, is appropriately connected,

as at 70, to the rod 56 and is movable in unison with member 70 since both the rods 54, 56 are attached to the common crank arm 52. Member 62 includes the usual bed slide 62a slidably disposed in an opening 63 in the work table 18 through which the feed dogs 14 are raised into engagement against the work W. Bed slide 62a is appropriately connected, as at 72, to a thin cover plate 62b which extends on opposite sides of the table opening 63. As best shown in FIG. 6, both components 62a, 62b of the slide member 62 have openings exemplified by openings 62c, 62d through which the feed dogs 14 are raised into engagement against the underside of the work W in position, during sewing of the machine 10, between the cover plate 62b and the slide member 60. From the foregoing, and as is best understood from FIG. 2, when the rod 56 is thus cranked through transverse movement TM, the lower slide member 62 attached to this rod is thus actuated through transverse movement in the table opening 63. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the member 62 is shown in a position it occupies when cranked to the left and preparatory to being actuated in a reverse direction to the right, which movement is, of course, permitted by the clearance space CS of the opening 63.

Attention is now directed specifically to FIGS. 7-9 and the description following of an exemplary cycle of sewing operation. The assumed starting point of this cycle of operation is when the cam length segment a of the cam 44} is encountered by the follower roller 46a. Revolution of the cam 40 through this length segment is designed to coincide with needle-feed sewing operation of the machine 10 during which, as clearly illustrated in FIG 8, the feed dogs 14 have been raised into engagement against the underside of the work W and the needle 12 has penetrated through the work W. The needle and feed dogs at this time are actuated through a forward feeding stroke F, in a direction away from the seamstress. During this movement of the needle and feed dogs, the cam surface along the length segment a is such as to produce a dwell in the transverse movements TM of the slide members 60 and 62. However, when the length segment b is next encountered, the needle and feed dogs 12, 14 have by then been actuated through their feed movements and into a condition where the needle 12 is disengaged from the work W and the feed dogs 14 lowered into a clearance position below the work and both, in fact, have returned to their respective starting positions, all in accordance with conventional needle-feed sewing machine operation. Thus during the time the cam length segment b is operative there is no impediment to sliding movement TM of the slide members 60, 62 and such movement is provided by the cam segment b. As a consequence, the work W is moved into a position displaced slightly to the right, so that the anticipated needle hole penetration is at the left of the needle hole penetration of the previous stitch. Thus, after the cam segments a, b, and c, and at the start of the cam segment d, the work has been effectively moved both in a feed stroke F by the needle and feed dogs and also through a lateral stroke TM by the slide members 60 and 62 which engage the work W. Thus, when needle penetration again occurs during the length segment d, a second stitch S is applied at an angular orientation in the work W. This alternating sequence of feed and transverse movements P, TM provides a chain of angular stitches S. Ultimately, one of two dead-center points DC of the crank arm C of the cam 40 is reached and continued rotation of the cam 40 past this point reverses the direction of the transverse movement TM. In connection with the exemplary cycle, the dead-center point encountered would be at the maximum displacement C and would result in clockwise rotation of crank arm 52. This, in turn, results in the slide mambers 60, 62 being actuated to the right, as viewed in FIG. 2. This reversal in direction of the slide members 60 and 62 naturally results in the work W engaged between these slide members being ac uated in. a reverse direction through another angular chain of stitches S. The result is the production of zigzag sewing Z as illustrated in FIG. 9.

From the foregoing, it should be readily appreciated that cam 40 is just one of many cams which can be employed to provide zigzag sewing as exemplified by sewing Z in FIG. 9. For example, it is possible to provide a cam in which the cam surface has appropriate rises and dwells so that there are more than three stitches (or less than this amount) in each angled run of stitches S. In these and other respects, a latitude of modification, change and substitution is intended in the foregoing disclosure and in some instances some features of the invention will be employed without a corresponding use of other features.

What is claimed is:

1. An improved needle-feed sewing machine of the type having a needle, a presser foot, feed dogs and mechanisms operatively connected to the needle and feed dogs to intermittently move the same through a materialfeed stroke during a segment of each cycle of sewing operation of said sewing machine, said improvements producing zigzag sewing comprising first and second slide members operatively arranged to engage material being sewn therebetween, said first member being located in an operative position supporting said work and arranged to partake of sliding movement transversely of said material-feed stroke, said second slide member being supported on said presser foot in an operative position to engage the other side of said work and also arranged to partake of sliding movement transversely of said materialfeed stroke, actuating means operatively connected to actuate said first and second slide members simultaneously and alternately through said transverse sliding movement to cause corresponding alternating transverse movements in said work, and control means operatively connected to said actuating means to cause the operation thereof during intervals between material-feed strokes, whereby the combined effect of said alternate transverse movements and feed movements of said work produces zigzag sewing in said work.

2. An improved needle-feed sewing machine as defined in claim 1 wherein said presser foot has a guide member extending on opposite sides thereof oriented in the direction of transverse movement of said second slide member on which said second slide member is slidably supported.

3. An improved needle-feed sewing machine as defined in claim 1 wherein said control means includes a rotary cam operatively arranged to be powered in rotation during operation of said sewing machine, said rotary cam including a 360 c amming surface including movementactuating length portions eifective to produce said transverse movement of said first and second slid-e members and dwell length portions effective to hold said first and second slide members stationary, said respective length portions being delineated along said cam surface such that said movement-producing cam surface length portions are encountered during intervals between said material-feed stroke movements of said sewing machine and said other dwell length portions during said material-feed str-oke movements.

4. An improved needle-feed sewing machine as defined in claim 3 wherein the axis of rotation of said cam is offset with respect to said cam surface whereby said cam is eifective to function as a crank actuating said first and second slide members through transverse movement.

5. In a sewing machine having a needle-feed mode of operation during which a sewing needle and feed dogs move from start-ing positions into engagement with a material being sewn, advance said engaged material through a feed movement and then disengage from said material to return to said respective starting positions, the improvement comprising material-moving means operatively arrange-d to engage and move said material laterally of said feed movement during the interval when said sewing needle and feed dogs are disengaged from said material and are returning to said starting positions.

6. An improvement in a needle-feed sewing machine as defined in claim 5 wherein said material-moving means comprises a sfirst slidable member located beneath said material and a second slidable member supported on the presser foot of said sewing machines in surface engagement with said material.

7. An improvement in a needle-feed sewing machine as defined in claim 6 including a cooperating interfitting guide member and slot means on said second slidable member and said presser foot operatively arranged to guide said second slidable member during movement thereof relative to said presser foot.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,505,579 4/1950 Roseman 112160 3,004,503 10/ 1961 Erlichman 112-160 RICHARD J. SCANLAN, 111., Primary Examiner. 

